My virtual "stalkers"

So I sign into World of Warcraft last night (from a friend’s house since I still have no internet!), log onto my character Allora, and see that I have in-game mail. I wander over to the mailbox and look inside. The letter says “Moongazer.” Intrigued, I open it. It’s a reader letter from a WoW player who read the book! They looked up my character’s name (who I mention in my bio) on the Armory (where you can find every WoW player by name), figured out what server I was on, then created a character on my server just so they could mail an in-game letter to me to say how much they liked the book. What effort! I was so pleased. I think it’s my favorite fan letter yet!

Okay, but then it gets even weirder. A few minutes later, I suddenly get messaged by DawnGrey. Now, for those of you who haven’t read Moongazer, Dawn Grey is the book’s hero. Yes, another reader has found me. This one is a high school boy who got the book in the Houston airport while waiting for his flight. He read it, loved it and since he’s a WoW player, decided to create a character on my server so he could “meet” me…virtually, of course.

My friends were teasing me that I now have virtual stalkers. But I think it’s kind of cool. I love that people would put that much effort into finding me in-game instead of just being content with sending an email or MySpace message. It really says a lot about the growing online network we’re weaving around our lives and how the world is shrinking. And that I, as a person, can really represent myself and exist in the form of a virtual character. I can “meet” anyone from around the world, face to face.

Mar
PS I also think it's cool that Shomi is enough of a hybrid to interest teenage boys.